Mita Mukherjee

President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday urged students of Visva-Bharati University founded by Rabindranath Tagore, “to come out of their comfort zone” to make a difference emulating the poet who had chosen to leave the comforts of Kolkata city life and travel to Santiniketan which was a remote place in those days to set up Visva-Bharati with the vision to make it “a global knowledge-hub”.

“Pioneers like Gurudeb chose difficulties over comfort to achieve larger objectives. The young students of Visva-Bharati have to focus on this learning from Gurudeb’s life that one has to come out of one’s comfort zone to be able to make a difference,” the President, who is the visitor of Visva-Bharati, a central university said addressing the annual convocation of the university at Santiniketan.

“Gurudeb left the comfort of the most important city of the Eastern hemi- sphere in the early 20 th century and came to this place which was a remote area those days. There is a message for everyone, especially the young students, in this,” she said.

She said that Tagore was a “globally respected sage who combined the best of ancient Indian ethos with the modern streams of rationalism and humanism”. The President also urged the students of Visva-Bharati to spread this eternal message of Tagore.

She reminded the students and everyone associated with the university that it was their duty to keep in mind Gurudeb’s vision and wishes.

In the first meeting of the executive committee of Visva – Bharati Gurudeb had said : ‘Though this Visva-Bharati is India’s own, it must become the site of the entire world’s endeavour’ to not only disseminate but generate knowledge. Thus, Gurudeb wanted Visva-Bharati to become a global knowledge-hub,” the President said.

She said that the centre’s New Education Policy in many ways reaffirmed the vision of Tagore.

“In many ways, the National Education Policy, 2020 re-affirms the convictions of Gurudeb. We all know that when he realised that there was a lack of books in Bangla on certain subjects, he wrote new books in Bangla on those subjects. The importance of nature and mother- tongue was central to his idea of education.”

Reminding the uniqueness of the education system promoted by Tagore, the President said that the poet believed there can be no limit to learning: “Gurudeb’s belief that nature is the best teacher is reflected in the way this institution has been designed. There cannot be an ambience more conducive to holistic learning than what we see here. He wanted to liberate the process of education from the confines of conventional systems borrowed from the West. He was against the rigid structures and methods in which students were passive receivers and not active partners in learning. He also felt the lack of sensitivity ingrained into the system. Through Visva-Bharati, he has given us the gift of a learning system which is close to nature, which blends jnana and vijnana – that is- spirituality and modern science, ethics and excellence, tradition and modernity. For Gurudeb, learning was boundaryless and boundless.”

She said that Tagore wanted education to promote creativity and individuality and not produce stereotypes and careerists. She was happy that Visva- Bharati had adhered to Tagore’s philosophy of education and produced many celebrated artists and creative individuals. Credit for maintaining this rich tradition goes to generations of teachers and students, she said.

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